Category Archives: U. S. Constitution

America has endured an endless stream of unbelievable and unacceptable embarrassments from the Trump administration. We are becoming numb to the horrors. Worst of all, the Republican representatives who are responsible for censoring Trump are all too happy to circle the wagons rather than actually having investigations into the wrong doings.

This is not normal. Even Nixon had Republicans around him who were prepared to see that the crimes were investigated. Today’s GOP just wants to brush it under the rug.

This is not normal.

When a political party holds the needs of their party over the needs of America it can only be bad for America. It is not normal for an American political party to downplay the fact that a foreign country has meddled with our elections. Regardless of whether or not you believe it influenced the outcome, it is an attack from a foreign country and needs to be brought to light. Yet, the GOP hides and downplays it.

Is that normal?

A president fires government official who are responsible for investigating this which seems to be an obvious obstruction of justice. Maybe it was just a stupid mistake. Maybe. But if Obama had been involved in it during his presidency, there would have been endless investigations and allegations. Yet, we hear nothing from the party now that it’s one of their own.

This is not normal. We cannot allow this to stand. We must take back our democracy and get out the party that will hide attacks from a foreign country to protect their president.

This is not a Democratic or Republican issue, it’s an American issue. No party is more important than the needs of our great country and anyone who is trying to downplay this is hurting our nation.

As it often happens, voters are given a choice between an authoritarian leader or a non-authoritarian representative. This difference is fundamental to the very fabric of America’s principles.

The US constitution doesn’t say we should elect leaders. That seems like a pretty shocking revelation to many people. But, this country was not founded on authoritarianism, but on rebellion against such authoritarians. The very nature of the US is to question and restrain authority.

When it comes time to vote, keep that in mind. If you want to change America’s core to be followers of strong leaders, then vote for the authoritarian, but know what you’re doing when you do so.

On the other hand, if you are interested in keeping America free from the tyranny of the oppressive authoritarian leaders, vote accordingly.

Whichever way you vote, be sure you know the consequences of your actions. We were not founded on following strong leaders, but rather overthrowing them.

A billionaire, Koch brothers funded, front group was caught flooding millions of dollars into Nevada elections to circumvent the will of the people. With the Senate seat up for grabs, the billionaires are busy trying to influence Nevada elections.

Their thinking seems to be along the lines of, “the stupid hicks of Nevada will vote for whoever they see on the TV the most.” Obviously they underestimate the Nevada voters.

This isn’t a choice between Republican or Democrat, but between electing a senator who represent the people or one who only represents the billionaires.

Let’s make sure they get the message. We wont elect a billionaire stooge like Joe Heck. What the Heck do they think we are.

I went to a movie at the Galaxy Theaters the other day and was infuriated by the larger than life ad spewing lies about legalized cannabis. The ad smacked of the same lies we were told back in the reefer madness era. Lies about one thing after another.

Many of us can see the lies as the propaganda they are but there are many people out there who will actually believe these ads. And the sad part is that these same fools (being made fools by the ads they watch) go out there and vote based on those lies.

Shame on you Galaxy Theaters for allowing these blatant lies on your screen. If you’re going to allow these obviously lies on your screen, you should at least preface them with a disclaimer to the effect that “the following propaganda ad may contain lies, deception, and falsehoods, so be sure to verify what you see on these ads before believing in them.”

Anything less than that, and you are responsible for people being made fools of all for your profit. Have some morals. It’s not just about profit. There is a responsibility you carry that you don’t deceive or otherwise harm your customers.

Here are some facts to clear up the lies:

Legal cannabis does not look like the Hershey’s candy you see in a grocery store. You don’t accidentally pick up the wrong kind of candy. I know, it sounds stupid, but that’s exactly what the ad infers and some people believe it.

Way more than one in six people viewing the ad will be made fools by the lies. However, exactly zero kids in six will get addicted to cannabis.

Gun ownership in the US has exploded and along with it the number of gun deaths has gone up as well, just as one would expect. It is quite concerning that many of those gun owners have the mental capacity of a squirrel or NRA member, believing that “more guns” is the solution.

This means that many of those mentally challenged gun toting people are out there with their weapons loaded driving their cars and sharing our public spaces, shooting up our schools and theaters.

This has got to stop. The US has got to take a stand against this stupidity and the needless deaths.

Now, dont jump to conclusions, I’m a strong advocate for the right to own guns, within reason. I even enjoy target practice, myself.

It’s sad that I see these squirrels on the social media sites spewing their NRA talking points but never sticking around long enough to defend their mistaken positions or risk actually finding out theyre on the wrong side of history.

Why do we continue to sacrifice our safety and the safety of our children so those iimbeciles can make up for their insecurities at our expense?

It is truly shocking to see the Republicans frantically supporting and defending their traitors. Why can’t they just admit that the party is infected and they made a mistake voting for people who openly try to undermine America and our president?

Many Republican voters that I talk with agree that the #47Traitors have gone far beyond acceptable behavior, though they don’t feel it’s right to convict and punish them for their treason or “bad behavior” as some call it.

Still, there are a large number of Republicans out there defending their party no matter how destructive and poisonous to democracy it has become. This unwillingness to recognize the faults of your own traitors makes it plain as day that you are living in a cult. You are past the point of being able to objectively look at your gods.

I, personally, believe that America, all of America needs to quit with the tolerance to destructive behavior by the political parties and more than anything, destructive behavior by the uber wealthy who pull the puppet strings of the parties.

Try the #47Traitors and punish them by removing them from our body politics if found guilty.

And, lastly, even if found not guilty of treason on legal bounds, they have morally committed treason against America and need to be spurned for their crimes.

We’ve all heard the dire warnings about the evil Socialism and every time someone suggests something that benefits America’s people, the talking heads all start exploding, SOCIALISM!

What does this mean for the US? What happens if we let SOCIALISM invade our country? Hold on to your horses, but it’s already here.

Socialism is a type of government bent on providing things to allow the citizens (society/SOCIALISM) to improve their lives and their country. In many of today’s countries, this includes things like free education, including college, a guaranteed minimum living wage, housing, and health care.

When did Socialism invade America? It was introduced when our country was created. Listen to the first sentence of the U. S. Constitution:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Every one of those six items (Justice, Tranquility, defence, Welfare Liberty, better country) are hallmarks of Socialism. You can’t find better proof that our founding fathers wanted a country with Socialist ideals.

So next time you hear some ignorant fool spout about OMG SOCIALISM! remember this and feel free to tell them to shut up.

Checking over the mail queue, I ran across this comment. Since no one else has responded to this, I will do my best. In fact, since my posts are probably the most likely to be read as combative, it was probably meant for me, anyway.

Here is the comment submitted by a reader calling himself Jay:

For someone who claims to want peace you sure are angry and devisive. Do you believe looking down your nose at people because their views differ from yours is a way to peace? As if no one has a right to any belief that differs from yours. I would also like to say that your peace on Christianity playing not playing a role in our constitution as well as your supposed quotes from the bible are factually incorrect and far from the truth. There is also absolutely nothing in the constitution about “the separation of church &amp; state. Any time you would like to be informed on the truth let me know I’d be glad to assist you. To move towards peace would require you and everyone for that matter to stop & examine themselves before criticizing others. Stop looking at the speck in my eye and examine the log in your own. Stay well my brother. You may have unjustified hatred towards myself and everyone else who’s opinion differs but I still love all my brothers, sisters, and fellow Americans.

As I stated, this was not attached to any specific post so I can only imagine that it’s more a comment about Just-Say-Why in general. The reader, Jay, seems to have missed the fact that there are multiple authors posting here and has either lumped us all together or is maybe directing this to someone specific but just doesn’t quite know it yet.

Angry and Divisive

Let’s start at the top: “For someone who claims to want peace you sure are angry and devisive [sic].”

Unlike most bloggers here, I am quite intolerant of those who are so blind they will not see. Too much tolerance is like too many vitamins. They are both bad. Both can kill the host, be it a human body or the body politic. I have no tolerance for those who refuse to admit the facts, those who cling to disproved talking points. In other words, I have little tolerance for those being lied to by Fox and who know it but still watch.

I don’t think anyone here is angry or divisive or looking down our nose. We aren’t angry at those destroying our democracy, but I do feel very little patience for them and we all feel considerable pity for them. They are being hurt by their ignorance just as much as their poor political choices are hurting the rest of the country.

Christianity and the Constitution

Your next point:

I would also like to say that your peace [sic] on Christianity playing not playing a role in our constitution as well as your supposed quotes from the bible are factually incorrect and far from the truth. There is also absolutely nothing in the constitution about “the separation of church &amp; state. Any time you would like to be informed on the truth let me know I’d be glad to assist you.

To start, what piece are you referring to? There are numerous posts on this site and I don’t see any of them claim that those specific words are in the constitution. But almost every religious reference in the constitution and in other founding documents all point to the need to keep the churches out of the government and keep the government out of the church. Just doing a simple (anyone can do it) search in the constitution for religion gives the following instructions for keeping the religious fanatics out of our government.:

… but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion

The Treaty of Tripoli

See what our founding fathers said about this being a Christian nation:

As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity, of Musselmen; and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.

Okay, these are the facts. Now, Jay, please feel free to “assist” me on how these facts don’t really mean what they say.

And, lastly, Jay says, “Stop looking at the speck in my eye and examine the log in your own”

No one has to look for the speck in the eyes of those refusing to read the facts, the log is visible from quite a distance. If you were as open to understanding the facts and changing your mistaken world view based on what you find, as most of those you disagree with, the world would be a better place. Open your mind. A closed mind will never learn but it will make a great blind and brainless follower.

This seems so obvious yet I never hear anyone talking about it and would never, ever expect to hear about it in the news or even in political articles. Why not?

Here’s my concern.

There has been plenty of research into the weakness Republicans have for hierarchy. They grow up with it, they crave it, they exhibit signs that they need it, they vote for it, they demand it in their churches, they exhibit nervousness in its absence.

Conservatives expect a strong, unquestioned father figure in the home. In some few cases, it may be a matriarchy as opposed to a patriarchy where the mother rules with unquestioned authority.

Conservatives vote for strong leaders. Nowhere in the constitution does it say we should be voting for leaders. Democracies don’t have leaders, we have representatives. Look at any president conservatives have voted in during your lifetime. They are all perceived as strong “leaders”. Look at the congressmen and even the local “leaders” the conservative vote in.

Conservatives tend to be more active in their religion, a religion that is the epitome of patriarchy. Like a cult, you get excommunicated when you question the “leader.”

Conservatives raise their children to respect authority, never question it.

Liberals, on the other hand, know that all authority must be continually questioned, You never take anything on faith. There are no kings in America, because our founding fathers were majority liberal.

Here’s a simple example: when driving down the road, if you pass a policeman, you will notice that some drivers will slow down and fear (respect) authority while others will nod and say thank you and continue on at the legal speed. Which ones are liberal and which are conservative? Seems obvious to me.

Taking this to the logical conclusion, conservative voters vote against democracy at every opportunity because democracy is non-hierarchical. Conservatism needs a strong leader, a king or a dictator. Liberals need representatives.

If our founding fathers were conservatives, this would not be a democracy and if today’s conservatives get their way, we will cease to be one.

Being liberal or conservative shows different brain structure, but this is because of how the children are raised. In other words, there is a cure for conservatism. Training, education, and birth control. Some of them just have to be trained on how to be empathetic. And, all of them need to be removed from the education system.

U. S. Constitution – The Trouble With the Supreme Court
by
David Schlecht

The troubles America has with the U. S. Supreme Court are numerous and dangerous to the country.

The first branch of government defined in the constitution is the Congress. The fact that it is defined first and that is has the most verbiage is a good indication that the writers of the constitution thought it was the most important.

Article One is four and a half pages where the president, defined secondly is only about a page and a half, where the court is defined third and is less than a half a page of text.

What is the purpose of the Supreme Court? It is simply:

The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority;

to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls;

to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction;

to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party;

to Controversies between two or more States; between a State and Citizens of another State; between Citizens of different States; between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects.

In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.

That’s all that the Supreme Court is supposed to do. It is not supposed to review the constitutionality of laws passed by congress and signed by the president. However, the Supreme Court has set itself up to do exactly that. The smallest and least important branch is pretending to be the most important.

More examples of how the Supreme Court is supposed to be less important than Congress is in Article III:

The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behavior,

And who decides what is “good Behavior?” Congress.

Nowhere in here does it say they can appoint a friend to be president like they did for George W Bush, even though he didn’t win the election.

If we don’t stop this group, they will have the power to be the only branch of government and they aren’t even elected by the people.

Need something to call your representatives about this week? Tell them to take back the powers of the constitution and tell them that any friends of the Bush family who didn’t recuse themselves from the Bush v Gore case are not serving in good behavior and need to be removed.

During the last presidential election, one candidate took the words of the other candidate out of context and made misleading and downright wrong assertions about the position of his opponent. This habit of purposely taking things out of context is common in today’s politics, but, it’s important we don’t get lackadaisical about accepting it.

Take for example the Second Amendment to the U. S. Constitution:

Amendment 2 – Right to Bear Arms. Ratified 12/15/1791.

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Make sure you read the whole thing.

There are two parts to this amendment. If the thrust of the amendment was that all Americans should bear arms to overthrow their government, don’t you think it would say that? After all, it says more than just that we shall have the right to bear arms.

In fact, it doesn’t even start with the right to bear arms part, it begins with the caveat that the government will not restrict a well regulated state militia.

Furthermore, this amendment does not provide for individuals to have guns, it says that the people (the state militia) must regulate the arms. In other words, the arms were expected to be kept in the armory, you know, like they did when the amendment was written.

It becomes obvious how the amendment can be misinterpreted when it is taken out of context. Why does the NRA and other gun nuts insist on taking this out of context?

Where in here can anyone find even a hint that we are all entitled to unregulated arms, stockpiles of weapons our forefathers never imagined, at the time of the amendment?

The Supreme Court appointed George Bush contrary to the constitution. This was a blatant overstep on the part of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court makes more than their share of mistakes. And the Supreme Court has interpreted the constitution incorrectly on numerous occasions, such as saying the constitution gives corporations and oligarchs unlimited rights to sway our elections. Even an elementary school child knows better than this.

This same Supreme Court has found that the first part of the amendment does not mean what is says, that it mean nothing. But you and I know better. Few of us are as biased as the conservatives on the Supreme Court are.

We are all hearing how important it is to cut Social Security. You would think that the world will end if we don’t start letting little old ladies starve to death.

But in reality nothing is wrong with Social Security. Nothing!

Furthermore, changes to Social Security will not affect the nation’s budget, not one little bit. Even Reagan tried explaining this to everyone some thirty years ago.

Now, then, why are some Congress men beating the drums so hard to mess up Social Security? Do they not know what you and I know? Are they really that stupid? Of course not. So, why are they trying to use this opportunity to make such awful changes?

It is obvious to many of us, but if you find yourself wondering, here is why.

They want to destroy any government program that helps the poor.

Anyone who doesn’t want to help the poor is blatantly un American because America was founded to provide for the welfare of we the people. It’s the very first sentence of the constitution.

So, tell me why someone would be in support for welfare for the rich through lower taxes while opposing a self-funded program of social insurance for the rest of us?

I’ll tell you why. Because they don’t represent we the people. They represent those intent on converting America into their own personal cash cow.

So, Obama won so what’s next? The battle has just begun. It is time for every person who voted for Obama or Romney or anyone else to get involved in governing our country. After all, our democracy is supposed to be government BY THE PEOPLE.

Nowhere in the constitution will you find the word, leader. Why? Because we don’t elect leaders. We the people are the leaders and our representatives are supposed to follow our lead.

When we’re not there leading our representatives, the billionaires and the lobbyists are, all day long, every day, 24-7 poisoning the ears of our representatives. What are our representatives to think when they hear the lobbyists all day long but never hear from us until next election?

It should be obvious, it tells our representatives that we don’t give a darned what they do until right before next election.

There are a whole lot of important issues that all of us, all of We The People need fixing. Start by calling and writing your representatives at least weekly. Write letters to your newspaper. And get out there on the Internet and post comments on blogs or start a blog of your own.

So, what things would you like to see fixed? Make a list and check it off as you make a phone call or write a letter once each week. Get your family and neighbors to do the same. Find issues that affect all of America, not just the gun dealers’ lobby or just the billionaires, or just the church. Pick issues that will have the largest impact on America.

Here is a good list to get you started. Copy down the issues that you think we can fix together and start working on them. It’s easy and it’s fun to know you’re actually doing something that has a chance of helping.

Overturn Citizens United

Get money out of politics

Publicly funded elections

Stop the gridlock in the Senate

Retire the Electoral College

Get a broader range of political parties by fighting for Instant Runoff Voting

Open up our media to more diverse and unbiased programming

Stop voter suppression. Voting is a right.

This list is just a beginning. Take your favorites or throw them all away and start your own list. Leave a comment and tell us your list. And, start getting involved. Start directing your representatives to take care of OUR business, not the lobbyists’.

I’ve heard this argument so many times I decided it needed to be investigated. Was America founded on Christian values?

There are two places for us to look for answers: 1. Do Christian values agree with the values this country were founded upon, and 2. Did our founding fathers make any comments regarding this possibility?

Christian Values

Let’s start with looking at Christian values and American values and see how much overlap there really is. A quick read of the bible or even a quick goolge of Christian morals and values brings up these values defined in the Christian bible.

Jesus Died for Our Sins

This is one of the biggest defining principles of Christian religion. Having one entity/person/god take the punishment so the guilty party can go free is not only immoral but is entirely against the ideas of moral in today’s America and wasn’t considered moral by our founding fathers. Therefore, the biggest principle of Christianity is completely contrary to American morals.

Sacrificing for God

The bible is rich with ritual of sacrifice of both human and animal. No one today or at the founding of our country ever thought that it was acceptable to kill humans or animals for a deity.

Judge Not Lest You be Judged

Again, this is one of the principle definitions of Christianity and is referenced in the bible repeatedly. However, our country’s constitution defines judges as a fundamental part of the government.

Subjugation of Women

America’s founding fathers were mostly pagans but there were a couple devoutly religious in the mix. Still, there is no reference in any of our country’s founding documents, including all the notes on all the discussions leading up to the constitution that makes any reference to women being second class citizens or requiring women to be subservient to their husbands or covering their heads. Yet, these are defining principles in many of the bible’s stories. Even Jesus was quoted as being abusive to his mother.

The list of defining Christian morals that don’t match morals of our country are endless. I could continue but I believe I’ve proven my point.

Secondly, what did our founding fathers say about religion and government?

Founding Fathers’ Religious Comments

Let us start with the most obvious, the first amendment: Congress shall make NO law respecting an establishment of religion.

Isn’t that pretty obvious? If it’s not, if you want to interpret it to mean Congress shall make laws respecting… then you might have missed something in your English language class in elementary school. No means no. Even if you wonder if it really means yes, then correspondences with the founding fathers would illuminate that, but as it turns out, documents of their correspondences show that they mean “no”. For example, Thomas Jefferson wrote to say the 1st amendment made a “wall of separation between church and State.”

Madison was quoted as saying, “Strongly guarded. . . is the separation between religion and government in the Constitution of the United States.”

Not obvious enough, yet?

In an international treaty, The Treaty of Tripoli, drafted in the late 1700s it states:

As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity, of Musselmen; and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.

The only way to continue to believe that America was founded on Christian principles is to refuse to accept facts. Unfortunately, though, this is also a defining characteristic of Christianity.

No, I’m not talking about corporate kings, though that is a serious problem with American politics, today, but I”m talking about the Supreme Court, or more commonly known as the Roberts Court.

Nowhere does our constitution say that the Supreme Court has the authority to overrule the other two branches of government. Nowhere!

So, what are they doing telling the voters who have voted for health care reform that we can’t have it because their insurance industry overlords don’t want it? I don’t care what the insurance companies want. What matters is what the voters want.

It’s criminal , the condition of our Supreme court and it’s time we started electing some democrats who can appoint some judges and start impeaching the criminals that are now there.

The Supreme Court has no right to be telling us ,the voters, what is constitutional.That’s why we elect representatives and we don’t elect the court.

What is this so hard for them to understand? The Supreme Court was supposed to be the weakest of the three branches of government and now it’s like America is ruled by nine kings and queens and what the voting public wants doesn’t matter.

This story can’t be repeated often enough and it’s important enough that it should be on everyone’s mind and on everyone’s lips.

Five years ago, the Republican party put a poison pill into legislation that is killing the Post Office. The Post Office is now expected to fund medical benefits for their retires FOR THE NEXT SEVENTY FIVE YEARS, all in the next few years.

Think about that for a minute. The next seventy five years means they’re having to put money aside for people who aren’t even born yet and might work at the Post Office.

The purpose of this poison pill is obviously nothing less than an effort to kill the Post Office, the only office that is protected by the Constitution.

The Republicans want to give the Post Office off to one of their rich Super PAKs and they might as well make sure there are billions of dollars in medical saving accounts to give away while they’re at it.

If you’re a Republican, I’m sure you have some excuse about how your party is so unethical and so against everything America and it’s constitution stand for, but you can only lie to yourself for so long.

The Republican Party is not only poisoning the Post Office, they’re trying to poison the entire country and no body is talking about it. Have you heard about this on your Fox news channel? Nah, didn’t think so.

We have got to overturn this awful poison pill and kick the crooked Republicans out of power for the next few generations until they come clean and start working for the better of the country rather then the best interests of their billionaire donors.

What does it mean to be pro-life? Answer some simple questions and rate yourself.

Should the sick be cared for even if they can’t afford health care?

Should the elderly be cared for even if they can’t afford health care?

Should the poor be cared for even if they can’t afford health care?

How about if they have to chose between heat and medicine?

Should the homeless be cared for?

Should illegal aliens be cared for even if they can’t afford our hospitals?

Should the minimum wage be high enough to provide a meaningful way of life for everyone, one that includes medical and retirement?

Are you against the death penalty?

Are you against abortions?

Count up all your “yes” votes. If you have only one “yes” vote, some strange folks would say you’re pro-life. But anyone with even the slightest grasp on reality would say that anyone with less than 90% “yes” vote is just mediocre. Anyone with less than 50% “yes” has a serious problem. If you are below the 50% mark, I strongly suggest you read the Constitution of the United States and start with the introduction, or preamble. Just in case you can’t find it, here is how it starts:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

It should be pretty obvious to even the most uneducated in our society that the purpose of our government is so we can provide for the wellbeing of ourselves and our neighbors. The entire introduction to our constitution lays it out in black and white.